freephlyer

I started on freeflying the day I got off student status. This was at the old Skydive St. Louis in Bowling Green,Mo.. I wore jeans and a sweatshirt ( yup, you sweat on the ride to altitude ). Me and Paul Burke ( he unfortunately was killed in a canopy collision several years ago) were able to get stable and dock while sitting and standing in just street clothe and no real information. This was in 1997 and there was very little to go on. Tamara Koyn provided coaching the following year at SD St. Louis. I still recieve advise from Tamara. If you are lucky enough to be at a DZ where there are highly capable freeflyers LISTEN - LOOK - LEARN. Oh yeah, and spread the love.

What the hell is RW and these booty things you folks speak of ? Really though, I track great in my Dakinerags with minimal buffetting. If you are buffetting you need to raise your ass up a bit ( dearch ) also pull your shoulders up and back to direct high pressure air under your body and low pressure up and over the top of your body. This will keep the airflow off of your rig thus reducing drag and buffetting. This will also give you lift to reduce vertical speed. I have recorded a vertical speed on my pro-track at 77 mph. I have shown this to Tamara Koyn. She was quite impressed. Also do not resign your self solely to a delta for tracking. The positions to track in are as numerous as in any discipline. Get out and do some solo tracks to experiment and remember to plan your track with a visual and to stay with that plan. Also never track along the jump line.

You wouldn't train a new driver to drive without an speedometer, why teach a student to jump without an altimeter. When looking down from altitude a little phenomenom known as vertical compression comes in to play making it extremely difficult to judge distance. This can confuse and disorient a student leading to greater difficulties in the event of an emergency. What should be drilled into the students head is " TIMING " . Learn to set the bodies clock at exit. With belly flying this is quite simple to do as the fall rate is almost consistant jump after jump. Freeflying takes a bit more as fall rate will change throughout the dive as multiple body positions come into play. In time you WILL know when to turn and burn and to ultimately save your life. As with anything in our lives it takes patience and an understanding of our goals to achieve a higher level. Skydiving is just that - levels. Start students out on the BOTTOM level so that they do understand and achieve the higher level.